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The Old Testament is replete with references to temples. I’m not a scholar and certainly don’t pretend to understand everything about ancient temple worship, but being an active temple-attending member of the LDS church, when I study the Old Testament, I notice a great many temple references and similarities between what they practiced anciently and what has been revealed to our modern prophets today.

4 And thou [Israel] shalt be brought down, and shalt speak out of the ground, and thy speech shall be low out of the dust, and thy voice shall be, as of one that hath a familiar spirit, out of the ground, and thy speech shall whisper out of the dust.
(Isaiah 29:4)

Old Testament Support of LDS views, part 1 - Plurality of Gods, and Seeing God

This past year as a Seminary teacher I taught the Old Testament. I thought it might be an interesting and helpful exercise to list and comment on many scriptures from the Old Testament (OT) that reference in some way a latter-day restoration of the gospel, or that seem to support or lend validity to the claims of the Latter-day saints. Where an understanding of the OT verse may be aided by scriptures from the other LDS standard works I will draw on them as well.

t.wheelerJuly 15, 2012

Old Testament Support of LDS views, part 2: Enoch and Zion

The history and details of the man Enoch have been all but removed from our bibles, but through the book of Moses in the Pearl of Great Price (PGP) we gain a greater understanding of him. We come to learn that Enoch was a very significant figure in the early history of the world, on the same level with Adam, Noah, and Abraham. He preached to a wicked people and they repented, he and his people became so righteous that the entire city was eventually were taken up into heaven.

A vast amount of historical time is covered in the small book of Genesis. The first eleven chapters skim over roughly two thousand years of history, until we come to the story of a certain man, Abraham, and his family. Then the book slows down and gets micro-focused. Through Abraham comes Isaac and Ishmael, and then Jacob who’s name was changed by the Lord to Israel. In a very real sense, we could say that bible is the story of the people of Israel, the Lord’s chosen people, the descendants of Abraham.

This is certainly a strange question to ask. I wouldn't even include a reference to this idea except that 2 different people have asked me this same question over the past few months. I can only imagine that somewhere out there, someone got their hands on what they think is a juicy little piece of 'hidden Mormon doctrine' and is spreading it around like they're revealing some great mystery about what Mormon's 'really believe'.

A Catholic friend wrote this question:
If Mormons believe that Jesus is just the son of God and not God, then wouldn't that make you non-Christians since being a Christian is believing that Jesus is God?

This week the Catholic church selected a new Pope. This has generated a lot of public interest on the subject of religion and Catholicism. Ironically, yesterday I heard on the radio a debate about whether Catholics could be considered Christians. A Baptist gentleman was claiming that Catholics are not Christians because they offer prayers to the Virgin Mary and other Saints, and because they believe in 'hard grace' (his phrase). That is, they believe you have to actually keep the commandments and not simply confess belief in Christ. In his view this meant they could not be considered Christians.

What do Mormons Believe about the Trinity?

Most Christian churches accept the biblical idea of a holy Trinity: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost. Confusion and mysticism has surrounded this conception of the Trinity for over a thousand years however. Some hold the view that these beings are a mystical combination of one-in-three and three-in-one. Others say that God is only a spirit. Many believe that Jesus and his Father are one and the same being.

When the Lord Jesus Christ lived and ministered among the Jews in the Holy Land, he organized a church among them. Many people do not understand this, but it becomes clear as one gains familiarity with the scriptures. He called 12 men to be apostles, other men to be "seventy" (Luke 10:1 & 17), and gave these men his authority - or priesthood. We know that Peter, the chief apostle, led the church in the absence of Jesus and oversaw further organization and development.

Many good Christians that consent to have conversations about the LDS church, express an opinion that goes something like this: "I'll hear what you have to say, but I'm going to test it all by the bible. The bible is the final authority. If it doesn't square with the bible, I won't believe it."

BYU Studies Journal

Gospel Topics Essays

"The purpose of these essays, which have been approved by the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, has been to gather accurate information from many different sources and publications and place it in the Gospel Topics section of LDS.org"